Nicaragua Network Hotlines for June 12, 2007
News topics covered in this Hotline include:
- Plaza of the Revolution Restored
- Creation of a special commission for Nemagon victims
- Nicaraguan coffee achieves high price in Cup of Excellence 2007
- Cooperation and brotherhood between Iran and Nicaragua
- Nicaragua rejects the United States’ criticism on fight against terrorism
- MRS
would ally itself with the ALN
Topic 1: Plaza of the Revolution Restored
Near the end of his presidency, Arnoldo Aleman built a huge musical fountain
in the middle of the Plaza of the Revolution, the traditional gathering
spot for Sandinista celebrations, making it unusable for large gatherings.
Government workers have now removed the fountain, which has become something
of a tourist attraction despite the fact that the water no longer is choreographed
to music due to poor maintenance. According to Rosario Murillo, wife of
Daniel Ortega, the fountain will be moved to the adjoining Ruben Dario park.
Aleman’s fountain cost nearly US$120,000 and was surrounded by a garden, loudspeakers, colored lights, antique lampposts, and benches for tourists. The Plaza is bounded by the ruins of the old cathedral, the former National Palace (now the Palace of Culture), Carlos Fonseca’s grave and monument, the Rubin Dario National Theatre, and the gaudy Taiwanese-built Presidential Palace that Ortega has refused to use. The fountain’s 80 foot diameter made the Plaza unusable for political events, which of course, was Aleman’s intention. It was in this plaza that the victorious Sandinista guerrilla leaders met amid tens of thousands of supporters on July 19, 1979 after the victory over the US-backed Somoza dictatorship.
Those for whom Ortega can do nothing right, including the national newspapers,
piled on with overblown criticism of the fountain’s displacement.
This “resembles what Ramses the Second did with his predecessor: he
destroyed everything that had been done in order to do things his way. It’s
a barbarity,” said former Nicaraguan foreign minister Emilio Álvarez.
Former President Arnoldo Alemán said, “A kicking donkey can
do more to knock down a stable than one hundred carpenters can to erect
it.” Former Sandinista ambassador to the US, Carlos Tunermann, said,
“This is an unfortunate decision because no one was consulted here,
not even the mayor
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Topic 2: Creation of a special commission
for Nemagon victims
The leadership of the National Assembly decided on June 5 to form
a special commission to fulfill the agreement to take care of those affected
by the pesticide Nemagon. ALN Deputy Alexander Bolaños Davis said
the formation of this special commission of four members was authorized
in the agreements signed in August 2005, during the presidency of Enrique
Bolaños. A bill to create pensions for those affected by the pesticide
is on the agenda of the National Assembly. The commission will evaluate
the progress in relation to fulfillment of the agreements. Until now Nemagon
victims only fell under the National Assembly Labor Committee to take care
of issues brought by the former banana plantation workers. The deputy said
that as of the next week, the new special commission will take care of their
social demands.
A leader of the farm workers, Victorino Espinales, was pleased with the
formation of the new commission and requested that the subject of these
farm workers stay in national agenda until all the agreements are fulfilled.
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Topic 3: Nicaraguan coffee achieves high price
in Cup of Excellence 2007
Nicaraguan coffee produced by Marcio Benjamín Peralta Paguaga
at his property “Las Golondrinas”, located in Mozonte, Nueva
Segovia, obtained a price of US$47.06 per pound at the closing of the Cup
of Excellence 2007 annual internet auction. Second place went to coffee
grower of Estelí, Milton Canales. The first place price established
a record in Central America and is second only to the historical record
price of US$49.95 achieved by a Brazilian grower in a Cup of Excellence
auction in that country. Nicaragua surpassed Colombian coffee that until
today held second place in the world selling at US$28 per pound, equivalent
to US$2,800 dollars per hundredweight.
The winners have the right to sell their product via the internet. During
the online auction, Nicaragua sold 21 hundredweights of coffee totaling
US$100,222. Stumptown Coffee Roasters, a U.S. company, acquired Peralta’s
lot after the intense four-hour auction. Stumptown Coffee Roasters have
cafés in Portland, Oregon, that are known for their specialty coffees.
Peralta was surprised by the price his lot of coffee obtained. This northern
Nicaraguan producer received a grade of 94.84 points, giving him the first
place title of Presidential Coffee, meaning his product is “unique
and perfect.” During the event, Brazilian judge Silvio Leite said
that he had not tried more than three coffees in his life that have had
the quality of Peralta’s. Peralta said, “I estimated that the
price per hundredweight of my coffee would sell at US$1,500 but when the
online auction started, I saw that the price surpassed my expectations because
it opened at the price of US$1,550 [per hundredweight].”
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Topic 4: Cooperation and brotherhood between
Iran and Nicaragua
Iran and Nicaragua prepared to sign an economic cooperation agreement
during President Daniel Ortega’s official two-day visit. Ortega, visiting
Iran for the first time, met in Tehran with President Mahmud Ahmadinejad
on June 9 to discuss preparations to open Iranian and Nicaraguan embassies
in the capitals of each country.
The director of the Americas Department of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Ahmad Sabhani, said that the bilateral cooperation may include an agricultural component. Conversations between Ortega and Ahmadinejad will also “move toward political and economic cooperation,” he said. “Nicaragua has problems in the areas of the potable water, irrigation systems and electricity, in which Iran can help,” Sabhani said. Also, he indicated that “the Iranian preparation of young Nicaraguan diplomats is another aspect in which the Islamic Republic can help.” Sabhani said, “Energy, agriculture, cattle, fishing, the construction of ports and [electrical] power stations are the areas in which relations between Iran and Nicaragua will expand.”
Ortega proclaimed June 10 in Tehran that the Iranian and Nicaraguan revolutions
are twins and seek the same goals: “justice, freedom, self-determination
and the fight against imperialism.” Ortega visited the University
of Tehran after his first meeting with the Iranian president. Ortega said
a speech at the University of Tehran, “The more united countries are
in the fight against imperialism, the closer the victory will be.”
Topic 5: Nicaragua rejects the
United States’ criticism on fight against terrorism
Last weekend the Foreign Ministry sent a notice to the US Embassy
in reaction to the Country Report on Terrorism 2006 published April 30,
2007 on the Department of State website. The report presents the Bush regime’s
grading of Nicaragua’s role in the so-called war on terror and criticizes
Nicaragua for freezing the destruction of its SAM-7 missiles. It also emphasizes
that the National Assembly has failed to approve a US-backed law against
terrorism which would create a national unit of antiterrorist operations.
Other aspects of the report note politicization and internal corruption
of the judiciary and corruption within the immigration system which could
be exploited by terrorist groups. Deficiencies in the law on money laundering,
such as the lack of a Financial Intelligence Unit and a lack of interest
in penalizing people guilty of this crime are also criticized.
In February President Daniel Ortega stated his opposition to destruction of the SAM-7 missiles, because they are necessary arms for national defense. The Foreign Ministry note says that Nicaragua considers that the report “contains and discloses information that is not true to reality” and that it “represents an erroneous version of the policy and practice of the Nicaraguan State in the fight against the terrorism.” The message said that the Sandinista government is disposed to continue engaging in dialogue with the United States “on diverse subjects related to the fight against terrorism.”
One must question the appropriateness of the US, which harbors terrorists
such as Luis Posada Carilles, Orlando Bosch, and other violent anti-Cuban
paramilitaries in Florida, criticizing other countries on the subject of
fighting terrorism.
Topic 6: MRS would ally itself
with the ALN
The Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS) would not form a political
alliance with the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC), according to Victor
Hugo Tinoco, who heads the small MRS bench in the National Assembly. Tinoco
was responding to moves by failed MRS presidential candidate Edmundo Jarquin
to build a united anti-Sandinista coalition to contest in the 2008 municipal
elections. He added that the Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance (ALN), headed by
Eduardo Montealegre, would be the only party with which the MRS would form
an alliance. The ALN is the right-wing, neoliberal party supported by the
United States in the last election. Tinoco said, “We could enter into
an alliance with anyone, except with Arnoldismo [referring to former President
Arnoldo Aleman, convicted of fraud] and I don’t see any space with
Danielismo [referring to President Daniel Ortega] because they are becoming
more closed each day. We’ll support a party that has the same views
as ours.”
Tinoco said that he did not believe that an alliance with the ALN would
cause conflict within the MRS. “We have to be accepted by a wider
sector of the population, not just by Sandinistas if we want to win elections
and build a better country,” he stated. Nevertheless, Tinoco denied
that the MRS was in opposition to the Sandinista government, stating, “We
identify with the cause of the poor, with justice, but we believe that justice
is achieved by consolidating democracy. We can’t kill democracy and
liberty in search of justice and that is where we differ with Sandinismo.”
With only three seats in the National Assembly, the MRS doesn’t affect
the power balance in the Assembly between the three larger parties.
This hotline is prepared from the Nicaragua News Service and other sources. To receive a more extensive weekly summary of the news from Nicaragua by e-mail or postal This hotline is prepared from the Nicaragua News Service and other sources. To receive a more extensive weekly summary of the news from Nicaragua by e-mail or postal service, send a check for $60.00 to Nicaragua Network, 1247 E St., SE, Washington, DC 20003. We can be reached by phone at 202-544-9355. service, send a check for $60.00 to Nicaragua Network, 1247 E St., SE, Washington, DC 20003. We can be reached by phone at 202-544-9355.